In case you're not already aware of this ...

BBC2 TV, Thursday 30 September 2004, 7.30 pm (30 minutes)

Map Man: Beck

"Modern explorer Nicholas Crane deciphers Harry Beck's revolutionary
Underground Map of London, and explains why it changed the face of
underground mapping, and travel, forever.

It's an icon of London, a design classic printed on everything from tee
shirts to baseball caps, but the Underground Map started with one man
working in his bedroom.

Harry Beck was an electrical engineer. In 1931 he had a fit of genius
when he realised that his circuit diagrams were a perfect model for a
new map of the underground network. Nicholas Crane travels across London
on the tube to discover how he did it.

Why did he exclude everything at street level? What dictated his choice
of colour for each line? Is it the world's favourite subway guide?"

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)